Chapter Two
Potter's Plants
After lunch, Hermione appeared back home to do the one thing typical people do at home at two o'clock in the afternoon. As she flipped on the wizarding wireless network channels, nothing struck her fancy. "How on earth couple people listen to such nonsense?" She asked herself out loud a she went to shut off the radio.
She began walking over to her kitchen to go through her pantry to make a shopping list for groceries when her eyes followed the counter to her quark board where the card she received with the flowers was tacked. As she went to take it off the board, she tripped over her new cat, Crookshanks. "Sorry." She apologized to the cat.
As she ran her fingers over the texture of the parchment card, she knew if she didn't find out who sent her the flowers, she'd go mental. She turned over the card to the back where the address of the floral shop was printed. Chaucer Road in Hogsmeade was where the shop was located.
Hermione grabbed her traveling cloak and headed over to her fireplace. She took a handful of floo powder and stepped inside of the hearth. "Hogsmeade," She commanded loud and clearly and once she threw down the floo powder, she was enveloped into the brilliant green flames of the floo network.
Having never set foot in the town before, she wasn't sure if she had spoken clearly enough because when she landed it was in a pub. A witch manned the counter of the bar, drying and dusting the insides of shot glasses and beer mugs while trying to keep busy. When she realized she was no longer the only witch over the age of twenty, she went and greeted her. "Hello, welcome to the Three Broomsticks, can I get something for you?"
"No, I'm just a little turned around. I thought I was supposed to be in Hogsmeade."
The witch chuckled. "You are in Hogsmeade. I take it is your first time here?"
Hermione nodded.
"Please, sit down and I'll give you a drink on the house."
"No, thank you. I really must be going, perhaps on my way out." Hermione turned to leave the pub, but then she turned back to the witch when she realized she didn't know here she was going. "Maybe you could help me though. Do you know where Chaucer Road is?"
"Chaucer road? Why on earth would you want to go there? Most people stick around here." Hermione showed her the card. "Potter's Plants, oh yes, that quaint little apothecary. I knew they delivered flowers. Chaucer Road is down this road as far as it will go then hang a left. Potter's Plants is the very last building on that road. You'll see it."
"Thank you…"
"Madame Rosemarta and you are?"
"Hermione Granger." She took Madame Rosemarta's hand to shake it. "Nice meeting you."
"Take care."
*****
Hermione came to find out; there weren't many businesses down Chaucer Road besides Potter's Plants. It was mostly a residential neighborhood and like Madame Rosemarta said, she found the store at the end of the cobblestone street.
It was a very quaint store and it was as if it had popped out of a story book. The store looked as if it had been a café in it's lifetime with the cast iron awning covering the sidewalk, but the roof had been replaced by climbing plants. The door to the shop, oak by the looks of it, was already open with an open sign hanging in the front window.
Once inside, she was surrounded by plants both magical and muggle alike, a fountain also greeted her upon entry as it trickled down into a large basin where Koi fish swam merrily. Her attention from the detail was brought back by a stout, plump man wearing a green apron with "Potter's Plants" scrolling across the breast. "Can I help you?"
"Yes, hi, I'm Hermione Granger. I received a bunch of flowers earlier and whoever sent them didn't sign the card. I was curious if you could look through your records and find the name of the person who sent them."
"Hey, Ron, did you take an order for a Hermione Granger?" The man shouted into the back section of the store where there was a large refrigerator.
"No, why?" A skinny red haired man came out of the back carrying a large pot of hydrangeas and wearing a duplicate apron.
"This customer received some flowers from our store and wanted to know who sent them because they didn't sign the card. I thought you took the order. You worked earlier today in the back. Which means you probably arranged them."
"No, I didn't. Didn't you, Neville? I thought you were manning the phones earlier."
"If I did, I wouldn't be asking you now, would I? Oh, wait…" Neville glanced down at his watch. "Yep, he should still be there…"
"Who?" Hermione asked hesitantly.
*****
As Hermione climbed the stairs to the upper level of Flourish and Blotts, back in Diagon Alley, she thought Ron and Neville at the floral shop were putting her on about the man she was needing to talk to being at `Story hour' at the bookstore. "Maybe he's reading to the kids." She had reasoned.
Once she was completely up the stairs, her reasoning was flung out the window as the sounds of a female voice were coming from the back corner of the store where the story hour was usually held.
The story teller was telling the legendary tales of Merlin and his ascension in becoming the greatest Wizard of all time. The children were enraptured by the tale and were listening intently than any other children she had seen before.
Sitting in the back was the delivery man from earlier. "This man must have some serious mental issues." She thought as the story came to a close and the children clapped their hands in approval.
This had been the cue for the parents in the surrounding area to gather their children to continue their shopping. She approached the man from before and greeted him. "Hi."
"Hermione Granger, right. Small world this is, isn't it?" he flashed her a smile. "How are the flowers?"
"That's actually what I wanted to talk to you about."
"Well, there is somewhere I need to be. You can walk with me, though." He said as he gathered his cloak and the duo exited the building.
"Do you go to story time often?" Hermione asked as they began weaving their way down the road.
"I haven't been lately. She's been sick." He chuckled after he said it. "That made me sound stupid, wow. You see, there is nothing like a good story read out loud. She's just an excellent story teller. I enjoy listening to her voice."
"Oh."
"So, about your flowers…"
"Right," Hermione was business again. "I was wondering if you could tell me who sent them. I talked to your boss and he said you would know."
The man smirked, before he drew a cleansing breath. Hermione guessed she said something humorous. "The thing about it is the person who sent them made it clear they wanted them sent anonymous. It just seemed really important to them, so why not just enjoy them?"
"Because, if I were to send someone flowers, I wouldn't drive them so crazy by not signing the card, they wouldn't be able to enjoy them." Hermione and he stopped outside a store called Weasley Wizard Wheezes. "Are you sure you won't tell me?"
"I can't." He sighed.
"Alright, then, thank you for your time anyway." Hermione turned and stormed away annoyed.
*****
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